A Thread Both Lovely and Strange
by AmaryllisWhimsy
Summary: "When the dark overwhelms him completely, the golden thread remains for a heartbeat longer. Shining in the darkness, making him wonder to himself if the thread has come to it's end. If he's followed it all the way down." /One-Shot/


**I do not own Tangled, nor any of the characters. Tangled is quite possibly one of my favorite movies, so I had to write a little for it! You're never too old for Disney. Or Robin Hood…but I just thought that my interpretation of Robin Hood and Eugene were rather similar, you know? So…what if he was his father?**

**OooOooo**

The night that his parents did not come home, Eugene dreamed of gold. Sliding gold that swept through his hands, elusive and untouchable. It shimmered in such an alluring, lovely way, that Eugene could not help but be enthralled.

But then the neighbor woman rapped her chapped knuckles on the door. She often came in to check on Eugene for his mother and father, when they were both…_out. _His father lived in the woods, and Eugene rarely saw him emerge from outside their sheltered depths. His mother visited, but only in the cover of night, only when it was dark and none could see her slender form moving to the trees. Although why she bothered was anyone's guess - clearly Eugene had not appeared on his own.

"Eugene," her raspy voice carried loudly through the house. "Eugene, open up! It's Maude."

Blearily, Eugene opened his eyes and stumbled over to the door. He opened it, and Maude stepped in hurriedly, her frail form moving far more swiftly than what should have been right for a woman of her age.

Eugene closed the door softly, and felt a twinge go through his heart. Even in the pitch black, he could see the shimmer of tears on Maude's cheeks. He had never seen the old woman cry, not even last summer when those cruel men had shot down all her chickens, simply because they could and no one there could stop them.

"Eugene," She said in a hushed whisper, her voice carrying in the small room. "Your parents…your parents are dead, Eugene. Shot down by the Sheriff's men. The…the outlaw of Sherwood forest is lost to us now."

He didn't cry. He couldn't, for it all seemed so unreal, as though soon he would wake up from this dream like he had of the one with the gold.

"Your mother, bless her, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time is all. She…she.." Maude trialed off, as if suddenly realizing that this was hardly the time for her to discuss in detail the murder of a seven year old boys parents.

"Well, Eugene. They always sort of knew that this was going to happen. They told me that if anything ever happened to them, that I was to take you to Corona. Different country entirely, but they've got family there, and no one can legally take you if you reside in a different country."

She let out a whistling sigh. "Pack up a few things, Eugene. We've got to leave quickly."

At the time, the only thing he could really think to take was a change of clothes and his book. His precious book, _The Tales of Flynnigan Ryder_, which belonged to his mother. And then he was gone from the village, from their tombs, from everything he'd ever known.

OooOooO

The orphanage wasn't as bad as it could have been. Hardly an inviting, warm sort of place, but Eugene knew of the other orphanages where hunger was commonplace, and cruelty expected. Here, at least, he had food, he had shelter, and really, it wasn't all that much different from his other home, if overlooked the fact that his parents were murdered by the Sheriff of Nottingham, and that he was completely alone in a strange and foreign land.

His relatives, Maude had been told, were wiped out years ago by the sweeping plague that had scourged the land. They'd been gone longer than Eugene had been alive.

His father they had called Robin Hood, though Eugene knew that it hadn't been his real name. His mother called him by something different, but he could only remember the last part being Fitzherbert. So that's what he went by, though it hardly seemed fitting for the only child of the outlaw of Sherwood forest.

His father, he knew, had been a thief. A good one, the best of the best, and a great archer to boot. But not a bad man. He stole from rich people, and gave it to those less fortunate. But not just rich folk, the bad rich folk, the ones that starved and murdered and, really, weren't they the real thieves anyway?

At night he reads to the other children from his mothers book. He thinks about his father, the honorable thief, and Flynnigan Ryder, who had so much money that he didn't have need for anything.

OooOooO

He dreams of being strung along through the ages by a single thread, one invisible but still lovely. His father lies behind him down the invisible/golden line, and before him…before him Eugene does not know, but he must follow it if we would be a man.

OooOooO

They all have to leave at thirteen. It's the rule. As soon as you hit that age, you're out, because there's already so many other kids pouring in, and by this age, you're going to have to be resourceful enough to find your own food, to make your own way.

He isn't Eugene anymore. His name is Flynn Ryder, and he learns a trade alright. It's more than a trade, it's an art. He starts by picking pockets - only those rich snobs, of course. Like his father. Only those who wouldn't miss the clanking coins from their wallets. True, he doesn't give it to poor people, or have any _political _kind of reason for his thievery, but really, he himself is poor, and starving, and he's got to eat. What better reason could he have?

So he picks pockets, and then steals from shops, and then steals from noblemen along the roads, and then…then he meets the Stabbington Brothers, and comes up with a wondrous plan.

OooOooO

The gold thread appears once more as he lays on a brick floor, the blood pouring from his side, the world speckled in black. And Rapunzel, kneeling over him, chestnut hair framing her grief stricken face.

But he must follow the thread, both strange and lovely. Long as her hair had once been, but still not as golden. Nothing could have been more golden then Rapunzel's river of hair.

When the dark overwhelms him completely, the golden thread remains for a heartbeat longer. Shining in the darkness, and he wonders to himself if the thread has come to it's end. If he's followed it all the way down.

But a voice, both gentle and resonate speaks "Not yet." And with visions of sparks of gold splashing across his mind, he wakes up.

OooOooO

Twins. Lovely, whole babies, one a boy and one a girl. Rapunzel looks at him with joy brimming through her eyes, and he can almost taste the future. Rapunzel, teaching them to paint, he teaching them a little self defense, reading to them from _The Tales of Flynnigan Ryder._

And maybe, when they're a little bit older, he can tell them the story of woman, with a flag of golden hair, locked in a tower, and of the thief who stumbles upon her accidentally. He will tell them of the outlaw of Sherwood forest, who gave up everything to fight injustice, who had to leave his family in a poor village, never seeing them, the ending a sheriff's arrow through his chest.

And maybe, just maybe, one of them might be a writer, and would write these stories down, to remain forever.

He will tell them of the golden thread that weaves throughout every age, binding together people and stories, flowing in an unending pattern. A thread both lovely and strange.

OooOooO

**In the original fairy tale, Rapunzel has twins. I kept that. I liked the idea. Please leave a review, and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading.**


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